A young medical resident resists pressure from
hospital administrators to discharge an elderly woman exhibiting
vague yet disturbing symptoms. Eventually succumbing to the wishes of
his superiors, the doctor reluctantly sends his patient home. Soon
thereafter, the woman dies.

In Implant, F. Paul Wilson
confronts the current trend in medical care in which treatment
decisions are increasingly dictated, not by what is best for the
needs of the individual patients, but by hospital and political
bureaucrats primarily concerned with impersonally imposed guidelines
designed to curtail expenses. In the course of this novel, Wilson
also dissects Congressional committees which listen more to the the
self-serving prattle of incompetent, non-practicing doctors than to
those who face the gritty, often messy details of daily hospital
life.

Yet Wilson holds even good doctors partially
responsible for their plight. The unpleasant reality of today's
society requires that concerned physicians step forward and become
political activists in order to defend the integrity of their
profession. Only in such a fashion do they have any hope of resisting
and overturning the destructive regulations fencing them in.
Abandoning the political arena to the hacks and power-grabbers will
only ensure the defeat of pro-freedom approaches to health
care.

Implant's protagonist is Dr. Gina Panzella -- a
young woman determined to accept the challenge of taking the reins of
her life into her own hands. Though it costs her in terms of
friendships and ease of life, she seeks to alter the status quo by
becoming a staff member on the (fictional) Joint Committee on Medical
Ethics and Practice Guidelines. In doing so, she must counter the
opposition of her mentor and employer, Dr.Duncan Lathram.

Lathram is a plastic surgeon who refuses to
treat any patient using government regulated and/or financed
insurance to pay for his services. Because of his discretion,
extraordinary skill, and "exorbitantly" high fees, Dr. Lathram
attracts many influential patients from the Washington scene who
desire to project a younger, more active facade for their
constituents and colleagues.

When a number of these prominent patients begin
suffering inexplicable and seemingly random accidents, the book's
suspense and mystery ratchet into high gear. In the process of
uncovering the truth about Dr. Lathram and his activities, Gina finds
her own career and life in jeopardy from both her mentor and the
authorities.

Author Wilson is a (pleasant) anomaly on
today's best-seller scene. A medical doctor and a self-styled
libertarian, Wilson got his start writing science fiction stories.
From there, he moved on to a highly successful series of
horror/thriller novels beginning with The Keep (which Hollywood
transformed into a movie). Most recently, he has dipped into his
other career for inspiration and concentrated on medical thrillers
with a philosophical bent. His previous novel, The Select, dealt with the
question of what constitutes ethical medical research.

In Implant, Wilson has
created appealing characters in Gina Panzella and the FBI agent --
Gerry Canney -- who comes to trust and befriend her. As the reader
learns the sad reasons behind Dr. Lathram's intense hatred of
government involvement in the medical field, he can sympathize --
perhaps even empathize -- with the surgeon's tragic situation...even
if the doctor's clever scheme for exacting his revenge (justice?)
must ultimately be rejected.

For Freeman readers seeking a good, suspenseful
read combined with that rarity in best-selling novels, an argument
for more freedom, F. Paul Wilson's Implant will not
disappoint.